Elu language

The Elu language (also Hela, Helu) is the name given to the ancient form of the Sinhala variant of the Middle Indo-Aryan languages. R. C. Childers in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society states:

[Elu] is the name by which is known an ancient form of the Sinhalese language from which the modern vernacular of Ceylon is immediately received, and to which the latter bears is of the same relation that the English of today bears to Anglo-Saxon...The name Elu is no other than Sinhala much succeeded, standing for an older form, Hĕla or Hĕlu, which occurs in some ancient works, and this again for a still older, Sĕla, which brings us back to the Pali Sîhala.^[1] The Pali scholar T. W. Rhys Davids refers to Elu as "the Prakrit of Ceylon".^[2]

Elu is considered by some scholars to be a type of Prakrit from India while others contend it is entirely native to Sri Lanka. The Hela Havula are a Sri Lankan literary organization that advocate the use of the Elu terms over the Sanskritic ones. Elu is often referred to by modern Sinhalese as "Hela Sinhala", meaning original Sinhala.

A feature of Elu is its preference for short vowels, deasipiration and the obliteration of compound consonants found frequently in other Prakrits such as Sanskrit and Pali.

Consonants

Sound changes

• Initial ca in Sanskrit and Pali becomes s or h

Examples: canda → saⁿda, haⁿda

• P if not omitted becomes v

Examples: rūpa → ruva

Examples: dīpa → diva

Compound consonants

At the beginning of a word only a single consonant can remain

Examples: dharma → dahama

Examples: prāna → pana

In the middle of a word no group may exceed one consonant

Examples: arta → aruta

Examples: danta → data

References

1. ^ Sir Henry Yule, A. C. Burnell, William Crooke (2006), A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, Asian Educational Services, p. 344, ISBN 0700703217 
2. ^ T. W. Rhys D. (2007), Buddhist India, READ BOOKS, p. 155, ISBN 1406756326 

See also

• Linguistic history of India